Ensure that reconciliations are performed in a timely manner or check with those responsible for reconciliations to ensure the same

Ensure that labor schedules have been established and necessary adjustments affecting sponsored projects are completed in a timely manner or check with those responsible for these actions

WHAT IS MY RESPONSIBILITY ONCE I RECEIVE THE EFFORT REPORTS?

There are 15 days in which reports remain in ‘PRE-REVIEW’ status. The Certifiers cannot see the reports during this time, so it is your opportunity to do the following before making the reports available for certification:

Check each report for any payroll costs landing in Labor Suspense projects (you would see this in Section II of the report)

Coordinate having LD Suspense payroll adjusted to the activity (sponsored or non-sponsored) to which it is allocable

Confirm the accuracy of any cost share commitments of effort made toward sponsored projects (commitments are included in Section I of the report by respective sponsored PTAO)

Follow up with the Finance Outreach and Compliance, Financial Compliance team if discrepancies in cost share are noted

HOW DO I TALK TO MY FACULTY ABOUT EFFORT CONFIRMATIONS?

It is important to only guide your faculty in their confirmations. Under no circumstances should you agree to complete/confirm their reports for them or tell them what effort values they should enter. You are not in a position to know how your faculty actually devoted their time.

Ensure, by asking the faculty, if all of projects on which they devoted effort (regardless of taking pay) are listed on the report (Section I). This includes projects on which they are a Co-PI, or on which they have an effort commitment. These situations are most common when collaborating with faculty from another department

Direct your faculty to Effort@UVA functionality whereby they can garner additional information about their projects, such as award/payroll details by PTAO and onscreen help with system navigation

Assist your faculty in recalling what effort commitments they made to sponsors (both supported by direct salary payments or cost share commitments) by reviewing approved budgets/current and pending data

Assist them in understanding the University’s position on reasonableness and a tolerable variance (See policy FIN-027) when it involves effort confirmations

WHAT IS MY RESPONSIBILITY ONCE THE REPORTS HAVE BEEN CONFIRMED?

Always be aware of reports in the “POST-CERTIFICATION” status. This status indicates that a change has been noted as compared with the as generated Calculated Effort %, which may entail labor distribution adjustments. NOTE: If certified effort is less than the payroll percentage on any sponsored project, labor must be adjusted commensurate with the certified effort percentage. (This does not include non-federal clinical trials in Section Ib on Clinical Faculty reports or perhaps not a certainty when a cost sharing commitment is present)

When the Certified Effort % is greater than the Calculated Effort %, ask the certifier if he/she would like to adjust labor onto the sponsored activity as per their certification. If no changes to the labor distributions are required, move the reports to “Archive” status by selecting “Reviewed-Moved to Archive” on the Actions dropdown

Take immediate action on any labor adjustments as indicated given finalized certification values

WHAT IF A REPORT IS CERTIFIED INCORRECTLY?

Contact Finance Outreach and Compliance by sending an email to effort@virginia.edu for review. The email must include an explanation provided by/on behalf of the certifier for why the effort report was not certified correctly in the first place

Do not re-certify a report without first conversing with FOC

If approved Finance Outreach and Compliance will contact you regarding next steps, which may include having the certifier re-certify a paper copy of the original, showing the corrected certified effort as well as a current signature and date

WHAT IF A FACULTY MEMBER LEAVES THE UNIVERSITY PRIOR TO CERTIFYING A REPORT?

If you are still in contact with the faculty member by email, send a pdf of the report for certification, which can then be emailed back to you. The Designee may then use this as a suitable means of verification to certify the report

If you are no longer in contact with the faculty member, the Designee may certify the report given sufficient knowledge of the activities performed. See FIN – 027 Time and Effort Certification for details.

If the Designee or the faculty member’s immediate supervisor is not comfortable certifying the report, contact FOC.